Line #38 Film/MisterLonely


1	[[quoteright:214:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/misterlonely_1539.jpg]]
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3	''Mister Lonely'' is a 2007 Independent Drama written and directed by Creator/HarmonyKorine. A (comparatively) straightforward outing for the notoriously opaque filmmaker, it tells the story of a lonely Music/MichaelJackson impersonator (Creator/DiegoLuna) living in Paris. Confused, adrift, and terrified of death, he happens to meet the acquaintance of a cheery, idealistic Creator/MarilynMonroe impersonator (Creator/SamanthaMorton), who invites him back to her castle in the Scottish Highlands, where she and a [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits whole clan of celebrity impersonators]] live in peace and harmony...mostly.
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5	Meanwhile, a priest (played by Korine-regular Creator/WernerHerzog) and a handful of Nuns operating in an unnamed BananaRepublic discover a peculiarity that just may be DivineIntervention.
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7	Boasting Korine's largest budget yet, and the first of his movies to feature his wife, Rachel Korine, ''Mister Lonely'' bears little resemblance to anything else in the Writer-Director's filmography. [[Film/TrashHumpers Where he would go next, however...]]
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11	!!This Film Provides Examples of the Following:
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13	* BestialityIsDepraved: [[Film/TheLittleRascals Buckwheat]] seems malignly obsessed with chickens...
14	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The ending for the main plot. Marilyn dies by suicide, and forces Michael to fully confront his fear of death and dissatisfaction with the life he's chosen to capture the glory of for himself. He chooses to leave the convent ''and'' his celebrity impersonation job altogether, with the implication that he's finally deciding to live a life that's actually within his grasp: his own.]]
15	* TheCameo: Two of Korine's idols; Creator/WernerHerzog, who'd previously appeared in ''Film/JulienDonkeyBoy'', and Leos Carax, who's ''Les Amants du Pont-Neuf'' Korine cited as an inspiration. Also cast is Carax's frequent leading man, Creator/DenisLavant.
16	* CelebrityImpersonator: The main plot centers around an entire convent of celebrity impersonators who are so deep in their work that [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname they effectively are their identities]] -- aside from Michael and Marilyn, there's Creator/CharlieChaplin (Denis Lavant), Music/{{Madonna}} (Melita Morgan), Literature/LittleRedRidingHood (Rachel Korine), UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln (Richard Strange), Creator/ShirleyTemple (Esme Creed-Miles), and others. Thematically, [[DiscussedTrope the movie examines obsession over identity]], especially ''celebrity'' identity in its most literal definition of [[IJustWantToBeSpecial "people who are celebrated."]]
17	-->'''Michael''': I don't know if you know what it is like to want to be someone else, to not want to look like you look, to hate your own face and to go completely unnoticed. I have always wanted to be someone else. I have never felt comfortable the way I am. [[IJustWantToBeSpecial All I want is to be better than myself]], to become less ordinary [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife and to find some purpose in this world]]. It is easier to see things in others, to see things you admire and then try and become that. To own a different face, to dance a different dance, and sing a different song. It is out there waiting for us, inviting us to change. [[DareToBeBadass It is time to become who we are not. To change our face and become who we want to be. I think the world is a better place that way.]]
18	* CharlieChaplinShoutOut: One of the main impersonators is dressed up like Chaplin, and is married to Marilyn. [[{{Jerkass}} He's a bit of a piece of work against Michael]].
19	* CrapsaccharineWorld: The Highlands Commune. Despite everyone there seeking and finding solidarity together, they do so with the knowledge that they're outcasts struggling to celebrate in their potential greatness, resulting in a somewhat melancholy and bittersweet atmosphere. [[spoiler:By the end of the film, the despair over failure [[DrivenToSuicide takes its toll on Marilyn]].]]
20	* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: After all those times jumping out of planes without a parachute, it's a plane crash that kills all the Nuns.]]
21	* {{Deconstruction}}: The film ends up deconstructing the concept of [[CelebrityImpersonator Celebrity Impersonation]] to an extent, mostly of the existential heights the concept implies. The characters are wrapped in the pursuit of [[IJustWantToBeSpecial trying to be people larger than their normal, unsatisfied lives]] (in this case, celebrities) and even go so far as to abandon their true identities... [[CrapsaccharineWorld but it crumbles]] because despite their efforts, they are ''not'' the famous people they want to replicate, and thus [[WeAllDieSomeday the insecurities of their real lives]] [[StepfordSmiler continue to linger]]. [[spoiler:The failure of their show shatters the illusion and sends the group into a depression, [[DespairEventHorizon and for Marilyn in particular]], [[DrivenToSuicide it's too much to bear]].]]
22	* DespairEventHorizon: Marilyn spends most of the movie teetering on the edge of this. [[spoiler:When the show is a flop, she loses what little motivation to go on she had left [[DrivenToSuicide and hangs herself]].]]
23	* DivineIntervention: The subplot regarding the nuns is based around their experiencing of what appears to be a true miracle: after being sent falling out of a plane without a parachute, a nun prays for her God to not let her die... then lands completely unharmed. When the convent discovers that this is replicable, they see it as validation of their faith, [[spoiler:[[YankTheDogsChain but then proceed to]] [[DownerEnding die anticlimactically]] [[DeathByIrony in a mundane plane crash]], so [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane it may or may not be the case]].]]
24	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:The ending of the nun subplot. After being seemingly vindicated about their faith after miraculously surviving an assuredly fatal fall from the sky, the nuns board a plane to the Vatican... [[DeathByIrony and then they die in a crash]].]]
25	* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Marilyn. One of the more shocking examples of the trope, as there's absolutely no warning.]]
26	* FourLinesAllWaiting: Unusual in that there are only two parallel storylines, but the A-Plot involving the Celebrity Impersonator commune and the B-Plot involving the Skydiving Nuns are cut-between so evenly there's a bit of waiting for both of them.
27	* GenkiGirl: Marilyn. [[spoiler:[[StepfordSmiler This is a carefully constructed pose]].]]
28	* GodwinsLaw: "Y'know, Charlie, sometimes when I look at you, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech you seem more like Adolf Hitler than Charlie Chaplin.]]"
29	* GodwinsLawOfFacialHair: Invoked, a Creator/CharlieChaplin impersonator has his wife, a Creator/MarilynMonroe impersonator, say that his mustache reminds her of Hitler.
30	* HopeSpot: All are depressed after the near-disastrous show, and then they all start to [[ThatRemindsMeOfASong burst into song]] with "Cheek to Cheek". [[spoiler: ...And then they find Marilyn's body.]]
31	* LetsPutOnAShow: Despite their efforts, almost no one shows up...
32	* LighterAndSofter: Compared to Korine's previous work, and ESPECIALLY compared to the subsequent ''Trash Humpers''. The subject matter is still based around strange outcasts, but it's not crass or vulgar, and it's presented in a much more straightforward and comprehensible manner compared to Korine's more notoriously obtuse oeuvre.
33	* ManicPixieDreamGirl: Marilyn for Michael, to Charlie's jealous consternation.
34	* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Despite donning the images and some general mannerisms of their characters, almost ''none'' of the impersonators bother with changing their accents, from Charlie Chaplin's French accent to The Pope's English accent.
35	* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: None of the impersonators ever reveal their given names, almost as if they've abandoned them, and are as such exclusively referred to as their subjects.
36	* SceneryPorn: The Highlands and the unnamed nation the Nuns work in.
37	* ShirleyTemplate: Marilyn's daughter, who is playing the part of Shirley Temple in the troupe.
38	* ShootTheDog: In a literal sense - the impersonators's flock of sheep contracts hoof-and-mouth, and lacking the money for any medicine, they're forced to put all of them down.
39	* ShoutOut: Unusually for Korine, after the show there is a single shot of the camera spinning around the bitter and annoyed Impersonators that is obviously an homage to ''Film/ThisIsSpinalTap''. Also, Creator/RogerEbert says that there is a shot of a plane taking off "which you will have to be very, very familiar" with the filmography of Werner Herzog to notice.
40	* SirSwearsALot: Abe [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] Lincoln. Also Charlie.
41	* StepfordSmiler: Marilyn is doing her best to put on a happy face, but behind it she's a slowly collapsing wreck. [[spoiler:The failure of the show [[DespairEventHorizon finishes the collapse]].]]
42	* TitleCard: All of Michael's episodes are titled after a particular Music/MichaelJackson song ("Man in the Mirror", "Thriller", etc.)
43	* [[ToAbsentFriends To Soon-To-Be Absent Friends]]: "And so, tonight, my friends, I propose that [[DrowningMySorrows we should get drunk]] on behalf of our fallen comrades in the pastures, whose lives shall soon cease". Bear in mind they are, in fact, [[SeriousBusiness talking about their sheep]].
44	%%* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth: [[spoiler: Marilyn.]]
45	* UglyGuyHotWife: As you might expect, Charlie and Marilyn. This causes some tension when Marilyn begins to get attracted to Michael.
46	* UnusualEuphemism: To "Do it to" women, Father Umbrillo's term for sex.
47	* WeAllDieSomeday: A major theme of the film. At the beginning Michael is performing at a Retirement Home, telling them all that they can live forever if they really believe they can, as if trying to convince himself. Later all the Impersonators react with such horror at the prospect of their entire flock of sheep having to be put down, it's likely it reminds them of their own mortality. [[spoiler:And finally, Marilyn's suicide eventually forces Michael to deal with his fear of death head-on, allowing him to overcome it.]]
48	* WhamShot: As the gang decides to wander out into the night and sing "Cheek to Cheek" together, a light shines in the darkness, revealing [[spoiler:[[DrivenToSuicide Marilyn hanging from a tree]].]]
49	* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: The rest of the Impersonators, after [[spoiler: Marilyn commits suicide and Michael leaves.]]
50	* YouAreNotAlone: The name of the last TitleCard, after the Michael Jackson song of the same name. Arguably the other major theme of the film.
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Context Film / MisterLonely